As summer kicks off and families hit the road for vacations, the Lexington Police Department is reminding motorists to Click It or Ticket. Aimed at enforcing seat belt use to help keep you and your family safe, the national seat belt campaign will take place May 22 through June 4, concurrent with one of the busiest travel and holiday weekends of the year.

“Our law enforcement personnel see firsthand the loss of life when people refuse to buckle up,” said Sergeant Randall Combs. “It’s such a simple thing, and it should be an automatic next step after sitting down in a vehicle.”

As the Memorial Day weekend approaches and the summer vacation season ramps up, “We want to keep our community members safe, and make sure people are doing the one thing that can save them in a crash: buckling up,” said Sergeant Combs. “If the enforcement crackdown wakes people up to the dangers of unrestrained driving and gets them to buckle up, we’ll consider it a success.”

Of the 834 highway fatalities last year in Kentucky, 50.9 percent were not wearing a seat belt.

“Did you know someone who was killed in a crash because they did not buckle up?” asked Sergeant Combs. “Please, help us spread this life-saving message before one more friend or family member is killed as a result of this senseless inaction. Seat belts save lives, and everyone—front seat and back, child and adult—needs to remember to buckle up, every trip, every time.”

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicate that seat belts, when worn correctly, reduce the risk of fatalities by 45 percent for front-seat vehicle occupants and by 60 percent for pickup truck, SUV and minivan occupants. Also according to NHTSA, regular seat belt use is the single most effective way to protect against and reduce fatalities in motor vehicle crashes.

For more on the national Click It or Ticket mobilization, please visit www.nhtsa.gov/ciot.